Retail sportsbooks and online casinos in Pennsylvania reportedly had a record January after processing approximately $615.3 million in aggregated wagers and handing over some $34 million in combined taxes.

According to a report from the online news domain at PlayPennsylvania.com citing official information from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the result topped the previous all-time high of $548.6 million set for December and represented the first time that the sector had produced in excess of $600 million in aggregated handle since launching some 26 months ago. Should this performance continue for the remainder of the year and the source detailed that retail sportsbooks and online casinos in Pennsylvania could end the year with aggregated annual handle of almost $6 billion for taxable income in the region of $800 million.

Considered consistency:

Dustin Gouker from PlayPennsylvania.com explained that the January handle figure was 76.6% higher than the $348.4 million tally recorded for the same month last year and took local operator’s corresponding tax bill up by 49.1%. He moreover described the 31-day month as ‘a return to relative normality’ following the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic with the sector having now paid about $111.7 million in taxes since premiering.

Read a statement from Gouker…

“There are a lot of positive signs right now as sportsbooks and online casinos continue to gain steam and hopefully the state’s bricks-and-mortar casinos will begin to regain their footing. If things do return to normal, the gaming industry should see significant gains across the board in 2021.”

Decided dominance:

The figures from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control reportedly also showed that online sportsbetting had accounted for 94.3% of last month’s handle figure with the service from FanDuel Group and Valley Forge Casino Resort having again topped the market after processing around $220.7 million in remote wagers. Local retail locations, which were only allowed to re-open from January 4, purportedly bounced back strong by handling $35.4 million in bets and winning $4 million.

Gouker’s statement read…

“Casino closures have certainly spurred online casinos and online sportsbook betting, which will provide some long-term benefits for the industry. But for the state’s gaming industry to truly be healthy, it needs to see a full recovery with retail betting. If the pandemic continues to recede, that return to health could happen by the second half of 2021.”

iGaming improvement:

Regarding online casinos and poker rooms and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s figures reportedly furthermore showed that January revenues had hit an all-time high of $80.4 million, which was an improvement of 5.6% month-on-month, to earn ‘The Keystone State’ $17.3 million in taxes and bring in local share assessments and county grants worth $10.2 million.

Balanced burden:

Valerie Cross from PlayPennsylvania.com proclaimed that the relatively high tax rates for sportsbetting and iGaming operators in the state of 12.8 million people, which tops out at 14% for remote table games, ‘did slow down the early progress of the industry’ but that this ‘no longer appears to be much of an impediment.’

Read a statement from Cross…

“Operators have flocked to the state and produced millions in revenue. In that way, regulators achieved their goal of creating a reliable revenue producer for the state and that could attract attention from other states as they work to set up legal sportsbetting.”